


television heaven.

by lonelyheartsclub_com



Category: Murder Most Unladylike Series - Robin Stevens
Genre: F/M, Gen, alfred cheng centric fics because well..., the chengs are MESSY
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 16:28:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28513446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lonelyheartsclub_com/pseuds/lonelyheartsclub_com
Summary: alfred cheng never felt like a girl. nor did hazel wong ever feel like a boy.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	television heaven.

**Author's Note:**

> tw transphobia, deadnaming, vague child abuse implication, shooting, death, murder, kidnapping, racial harassment

Alfred Cheng had never felt like a girl. One day, he asked Elisa about it. Elisa was his oldest cousin from his dad’s side, and she had been kidnapped about 2 years ago, when he was 12. 

Alfred was 14, and he was still as flat as a door and had almost no figure. As he donned his light blue  _ cheongsam, _ he felt horridly insecure. 

“Frances, come along. You look excellent, just like I said you would! See? Mother knows best.” Alfred gritted his teeth and held back tears as his mother wrapped an arm around his slender frame.

His legal name was  _ Frances Cheng. _

The name was like fucking poison to his ears. Whenever someone in the street shouted Frances out loud, he’d flinch and wonder,  _ did they know? _

Alfred was 14 when he told his parents he was a boy. Elisa was there for him when they threatened to beat him, when they said he deserved to be thrown out. 

They cooled off. By the time a few months had gone by, they referred to him as “he” in both Cantonese and English.

They let him transition. 

He’d heard of someone else like him, by the name of Hazel Wong. Hazel had been born a boy, and her legal name was Edward. 

Meeting her was strange, especially since she’d probably heard the rumors about Alfred. She was a petite girl, with eyes darker than Alfred’s and a quaint smile on her face. She was accompanied by her mother, who was named June. 

June Wong was not a particularly nice woman. He remembered the extensive conversations that she and Alfred’s mother would have in rapid Cantonese, whilst they smoked, talking about how Alfred was incompetent and how Hazel was lucky that she was a boy, or else they would’ve had no use for her. 

He couldn’t have imagined why Hazel wished to be a girl, the same way she was probably confused as to why he wanted to be a boy. 

Alfred was doing okay by the time he turned 16. His uncle, Thomas Cheng, was the only member of his family that truly still loved him. He was the one that would buy Alfred massive gifts, call Alfred by his real name and would ruffle his hair. 

He was the only member of his family that wasn’t scared of him.

It was a hot day in the summer of 1934 when it happened. Society had seemed to accept that Alfred was a boy and that Hazel was a girl. And then Alfred heard the gunshot on the street whilst he and his uncle were searching for a suit because Alfred had a date with a girl. 

He turned, and his uncle was laying on the floor, blood seeping out of his head. Alfred simply blinked. And then he screamed, as loud as he could.

That was the day Alfred stopped caring. 

He became desensitised to it all, shouted whenever someone called him  _ Frances Cheng,  _ and decided he wanted to go to school in England.

It was a brash, bold decision. 

But if Hazel Wong could do it, so could he. 

So he bugged his parents until they enrolled him in Cambridge. And so a 19 year old Alfred Cheng had flown over to England, and he walked into Maudlin with his bags in hand. 

And then there was a white boy in his face, and he screamed a word Alfred was sure was offensive. 

“What are you doing here? Lost? Want me to guide you back to Ching-Chong Land?” the boy barked, and Alfred kept his head up high. 

“I am where I am meant to be, thank you very much.”

“No, you’re not, you-”

“Chummy.” there was a boy standing behind the ginger white boy - Chummy, his name was, - and he was scowling. 

The Honorable Albert Wells. 

Alfred had heard the rumors. Seen the crude drawings, heard the rhymes. 

“Oi, Bertie, glad you’re here. Come laugh at this freak show. Bloke seems to think he’s in the right place!”

“Are you meant to be at Maudlin?” Bertie asked, turning to Alfred. He nodded. Chummy scoffed, and there was a sort of thudding noise and there were two people standing there. 

One of them was coloured. 

It took Alfred by surprise, of course it did. Since he had landed in England, he had not seen anyone without the fair skin or eyes that were not monolids.

But there he was. He was dark skinned, with gold spectacles, the summer light glinting off of them, and he had dark hair that had long grown out of its original style. It went down to his shoulders. 

“I’m Harold Mukherjee,” the man said, smiling warmly at Alfred. He leaned in and lowered his voice. “Ignore the white boys. You’ll feel much better if you don’t think about what they have to say of you.”

Mukherjee was very obviously a Desi name, and Alfred felt a lot less scared. 

Alfred smiled, and Bertie held his hand out to Alfred. “Albert Wells. But you can call me Bertie. And you are?”

“Alfred. Alfred Cheng.”

Alfred could not stop himself from smiling, because there had never been anyone that he hadn’t introduced himself to as Frances Cheng at some point before. 

The boy that had come down the stairs with Harold looked identical to the Chummy boy that had screamed in Alfred’s face. Were they twins?

“Those two are the Melling twins. I’ll tell you about them when we’re not around them, for that would be rather awkward.” Harold said, whispering low. Alfred could not help himself, he had to grin. 

There was a knock at the door, and there was a tall girl at the door.

She was also coloured. She was black, to be specific.

She had dark brown skin and curly hair with an auburn tint to it, and she had hazel eyes that she narrowed at the Melling twins. 

“Alright, ni-”

“Don’t you dare call me that, Charles Melling.” she hissed, glaring at him. Alfred was intimidated. 

She turned to Bertie and Harold, but not before stopping by Alfred. 

“Henry Trilling.” 

“God, Trilling, you have such a boyish nickname. One might even say you’re a transvestite, or a cross-dresser.” Chummy spat, still taking her in with his eyes in a less than appropriate way. He muttered something under his breath that Alfred never forgot. He wanted to be sick. 

She ignored him, and held her hand out to Alfred. She smiled, but Alfred could see the tears shimmering in her eyes.

“Wells, I came up here to remind you about that entrance essay you still have yet to submit to the school. With how hopeless you are, I know you’ve forgotten.” 

Bertie paled. “Shit- Henry, you’re a darling. Thank you for reminding me,” Harold laughed as Bertie darted up the stairs, banging on about  _ fucking entrance essays, _ but Alfred could tell there was no menace behind it. 

Henry smiled, left, and Chummy went after her, and soon there was a shout of, “God, Chummy, leave me be!”

Harold darted out, and Alfred felt rather queasy as he turned back to a glaring Donald Melling. 

He went after Bertie, but not before making a mental note about how much he was going to hate this.

Harold and Henry came up to Bertie’s rooms eventually, where Alfred was trying to get to know Bertie better. Henry’s pretty face was flushed, and her eyes were tear stricken. Alfred hated the Melling twins already, for he could tell Henry did not deserve any of the harassment she was receiving from them. 

“Why are they so rude to you, Henry?” Bertie muttered, causing everyone else to shift uncomfortably. She sadly smiled. “You’re so kind to everyone, you’ve never said a word against them-”

“Because I’m black, Bertie! Everyone in this room is coloured except for you.” she said, clearly not being able to cope with it.

Bertie flinched. “I’m sorry, Henry. I shouldn’t have been so ignorant.”

“It’s alright. You weren’t to know why they’re so rude.” she muttered. 

Everyone sat in silence. 

Then there was a knock at the door, and in walked a girl with curly hair, tan skin and a frown on her face. "Henry? I was scared Chummy and Donald had..."

"No, they didn't. I'm alright." she muttered, standing up. She turned to face Alfred and she smiled.

"I'm Amanda Price." she said, nodding to Alfred, who smiled back. 

"Alfred Cheng."

They spent the rest of the night together, laughing and drinking, the five of them. 

And Alfred didn't realise it right there and then, but he made friends for life in that room.


End file.
